Volume 33 Issue 3, Fall 2019

Leveraging Our War-Fighting Capabilities through the Lens of Operational Contract Support

Brig Gen Alice Trevino, USAF
Maj Jessica Greathouse, USAF
Maj Jordan Siefkes, USAF
CMSgt James Ting, USAF
Operational contract support (OCS) greatly benefits commanders who comprehend the importance of its use and how to leverage and employ it on the battlefield—to fight and win our nation’s wars. When properly planned for and executed, OCS decisively influences the tactical, operational, and strategic environment. 

Unexplained Physiological Episodes: A Pilot's Perspective

Lt Col Justin J. Elliott, USAF
Maj David R. Schmitt, USAF
Unexplained physiological events (UPE) have gained infamy among DOD aviators in recent years as both an inflight safety concern and the cause of lost sorties due to well-publicized groundings (F-22, F-18, T-45, T-6, and F-35). Unfortunately, most knowledge of these events is stovepiped into aircraft specific communications channels, which prevents DOD-wide problem solving from occurring.

Space Pirates, Geosynchronous Guerrillas, and Nonterrestrial Terrorists: Nonstate Threats in Space

Gregory D. Miller, PhD
This article examines potential threats to space from nonstate actors. The genesis of the article is the US’s renewed interest in developing a space force but is applicable to all states with current and potential space capabilities. It focuses on the three types of nonstate actors who will likely target state capabilities: guerrillas and terrorists, both of whom are defined by their political motivations, and pirates, defined by their mostly economic motivations. 2019 Ira C. Eaker Award Winner

Thinking Differently about Air Bases:
Evolving with the Evolving Strategic Environment

Col Kevin L. Parker, USAF
Current and future challenges in the strategic environment demand a thoughtful approach to Air Force installations. Air bases will remain the platforms by which Air Force units fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace. But, increasing threats against them, expanding global reach and interconnectedness, and demanding fiscal constraints call for change.

Maximizing Human Capital with Innovative Talent
Management Strategy

Chiefs Leadership Course 19-B
Flight 9, Excellence
This study is an introspective look into maximizing human capital through the effective use of innovative talent management strategies. In particular, the study focused on analyzing the Air Force’s strategy to maximize human capital, identify existing talent gaps, and highlighting how the enterprise applies talent management processes from career accession to retention. Additionally, the research will determine if the Air Force should leverage and adopt other talent management models to effectively manage the Air Force human capital.

A Plan for a US Space Force: The What, Why,
How, and When

Lt Col Jonathan Whitney, USAF
Maj Kai Thompson, USA
Maj Ji hwan Park, Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC)

This article will justify why a dedicated organization for the space domain is needed by reviewing the current space military organizations of the US and its nearest competitors—Russia and China—and how the future space organization will be created. We will consider the organization’s objective, how it should be staffed, and how much it will be budgeted.

Howard Hughes: Aviator

George J. Marrett
Reviewer: Capt Marissa Kester, USAF
Howard Hughes: Aviator is a thoroughly researched and well-documented biography on Howard Hughes, with the central perspective on the part of his widely-chronicled life spent in aviation. Written by a former test pilot for Hughes Aircraft Company, the book is an easy-to-follow, informative guide that provides not only a deeper understanding of US aviation history, but also Hughes’ enigmatic life. 

Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the US Air Force

Brian D. Laslie
Reviewer: Philip C. Shackelford
Architect of Air Power is a biography of USAF Gen Laurence S. Kuter. Brian D. Laslie is the deputy command historian at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command, as well as an adjunct professor at the USAFA. He is also the author of The Air Force Way of War: U.S. Tactics and Training after Vietnam.

Massachusetts Aviation

Frederick R. Morin
John Galluzzo
Reviewer: Capt Daniel W. McLaughlin, USAF
In Massachusetts Aviation, the passionate duo of Frederick R. Morin and John Galluzzo draw upon their shared love of history to provide a short, but insightful monograph about the busy aviation history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Military Aviation in the Gulf South: A Photographic History

Vincent P. Caire
Reviewer: Capt Miranda Debelevich, USAF
Vincent P. Caire begins this short, pictorial book with an advisory. This book does not act as an inclusive history of avionics throughout the South. He acknowledges that this would be virtually impossible.

America’s Digital Army: Games at Work and War

Robertson Allen
Reviewer: Diana Clark Gill
On a superficial level, America’s Digital Army appears as nothing more than a historical recap of a now defunct Army recruiting program that used a video game called America’s Army to attract teenage recruits. But, upon closer inspection, its author, Robertson Allen, an anthropologist and ethnographer, now working in the private sector at the Hartman Group, plumbs deeper meanings within this framing device of a video game’s life and death.